Spent Grains make compost pile stink

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stevea1210

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So I'm trying to be all green and what not, putting my spent grains into my compost bin. The problem is that for a few days after putting the spent grains in, it smells like Jeffrey Dahmers kitchen.

We actually thought the first time that something died behind the shed. It took a couple brews to piece it together.

So far, my solution has been to ignore the situation, as 5 days later, the smell is gone. That worked well until today. My next door neighbor, whom I get along with great, complained about it.

So what do you guys and gals do to mitigate the stink. Should I let the grains cool down first....maybe mix in more cardboard. I don't know.

I'm not an extremely experienced composter, but I have read that if it is stinking, you are doing it wrong. This is the only ingredient in our compost that causes a stink. All help is appreciated.
 
The smell comes from the anaerobic breakdown. Turn it every day to increase oxygen.
 
+1 Aerobic bacteria don't smell badly when doing their thing, it's usually the anaerobic.

If you stir it more often to increase o2, you'll give the aerobic bacteria a leg up on the anaerobic cutting down on the smell. A good active compost pile smells "earthy".

Also, you could have a stalled compost pile, or one just not active to handle the large amount of grain you're putting in. Check it in the early morning, give it a good stir with a shovel, and if you see steam or it feels warm to your hand, then you've got a good active compost going. If not, then add a shovel full of dirt, and begin to stir it every 3-5 days, more in the beginning to kick off the microbes you'll want doing the work.

Another good sign of active compost, would be a white/gray mold looking thing growing on the top of the compost before you stir it. It's not actually mold, it's one of those beneficial bacteria, and just what they look like when doing their thing.

Good luck!
 
You're not adding enough complimentary ingredients and you're not mixing the pile well enough.
 
Sure does smell like poo doesn't it? I usually dig a hole in the corner on my yard and bury it. I let that sit for 9 months to a year and then move it to the compost. Works great. No stinkies.
 
You can put it on a garden and rake it to a couple inches thick, then it doesn't stink.

My compost pile really stinks too if I put spent grain on it.
 
Make arrangements with a local chicken owner and donate?

I've had the pleasure of smelling decomposing grains. Once behind River Horse Brewing here in NJ and once in my kitchen when i forgot the garbage after 48hrs. It smells ALOT like a dead rat behind a furnace for a week.

I vote bury that $hhht.
 
I rarely put the spent grains on my compost pile. When I do, I mix them thoroughly and there's no problem. Typically I'll spread them evenly and thinly on ailing turfgrass areas as a direct enrichment. Although I have three dogs I don't feed the grains to them because it gives them stools that are worse than the rotting spent grains.
 
if your compost pile stinks then its too wet.
i mix plenty of dry leaves with mine.

+1, I've been composting my spent grains for awhile and you definately have to have the right mix of greens and browns, mix them up well, and make sure your compost isn't overly wet and you will kill most of that smell
 
Avid composter here. The reason your compost stinks is not because it is too wet, and I do not reccomend burying it.

The reason your composting grains stink is because grains are considered a 'green', and you have too much of them in your compost pile - you need to add more 'browns'.

In a nutshell, healthy active compost has at least 2 parts 'browns' and 1 parts 'greens'. And no, that is not referring to color. A 'brown' has a higher Carbon-Nitrogen ratio (there is more Carbon than Nitrogen), and a 'green' has a higher nitrogen to carbon ratio.

Greens are grass clippings, coffee grounds, spent grain, most vegetable matter etc.

Browns are leaves, straw (NOT HAY it has seeds), wood products, shredded paper or cardboard.

I had a NAAAASTY stinky compost pile with 4+ batches of grain in it before I learned about composting. I fixed this in 2 days by shredding about 20 cardboard boxes and roughly 10 newspapers. The problem cleared up right away, and my compost kick a$$ and has broken down in about 2 months - pretty fast.

So rock on and keep composting, but you need WAAAAAY more 'browns' :)
 
Yeah, old leaves and brush are great for browns. When I clean the yard of leaves I bag them and leave a few bags by the compost bin so I don't have to scavenge leaves when the snow starts falling. Newspapers work too, but NO GLOSSIES.
 
I got the Dahmer Affect as well, in an open compost area. When I went to turn it, there were several thousand maggots. Two weeks later, I went to scoop some into a pot I was mixing with soil, more maggots. Totally disgusting. The whole time I had been watering the pile almost daily and had added 10-10-10 as recommended.

I don't think I'll add spent grains to my pile again.
 
try covering your pile with a thick layer (4 inches or so) of dried leaves to keep the flies away.

also, there is a large fly called the black soldier fly that puts large grubs in your pile, really they look like big maggots...those are fine for your compost.
 
I got the Dahmer Affect as well, in an open compost area. When I went to turn it, there were several thousand maggots. Two weeks later, I went to scoop some into a pot I was mixing with soil, more maggots. Totally disgusting. The whole time I had been watering the pile almost daily and had added 10-10-10 as recommended.

I don't think I'll add spent grains to my pile again.

Those maggots are likely soldier fly larvae aand are benificial to your compost heap. Compost full of bugs means a healthy environment. Once the heap stabilizes the bugs will seek out other feeding grounds.
 
Thanks to veryone who threw out suggestions in the tread. I brewed on Columbus day (10/11). When I dumped the grains in the compost bin, I also shredded a bunch of cardboard, and then mixed the pile up real well.

Well we didn't have any rotting corpse smell this time. I also noticed that when turning it every other day, I saw hundreds of bugs / larvae that were having a giant feast on that stuff.

I definitely think I have learned some better composting tips and won't be stinking out the neighbors anymore.
 
I got the Dahmer Affect as well, in an open compost area. When I went to turn it, there were several thousand maggots. Two weeks later, I went to scoop some into a pot I was mixing with soil, more maggots. Totally disgusting. The whole time I had been watering the pile almost daily and had added 10-10-10 as recommended.

I don't think I'll add spent grains to my pile again.

Just trying to help, don't bother with the 10-10-10 - this is added if you are deficient in nitrogen additions (greens) - spent grain has tons of nitrogen you are just wasting your money.
 
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